Actor Jesse Williams has claimed that the NFL’s pregame national anthem ceremony was a government ‘scam’ designed to convince ‘boys and girls to fly overseas and kill people’.
Williams made his comments while speaking to MSNBC about football players kneeling during the pregame Star Spangled Banner performance to protest race inequality in the United States.
Williams, best known for his role on Grey’s Anatomy, said that NFL players started participating in the pregame national anthem in 2009 as a Defense Department military recruitment strategy.
Jesse Williams made his comments while speaking about NFL players kneeling during the pregame Star Spangled Banner performance to protest race inequality in the United States
‘[Saying] we need to stand and pledge for the allegiance and this anthem thing is a scam,’ Williams told host Thomas Roberts. ‘This is not a part of football.
‘[The pregame national anthem] was invented in 2009 from the government [by] paying the NFL to market military recruitment – to get more people to fight wars to die.
‘This is not – nothing to do with the NFL or the American pastime or tradition. This is to get boys and girls to go fly overseas and go kill people…
‘They’re marketing and pumping millions of dollars into the NFL to get us to put on a pageant in front of the NFL football games to get you to go off and fight.’
Williams was referencing a tactic called ‘paid patriotism’, which saw the National Guard and Defense Department spending taxpayer money on NFL promotions.
Some members of the Oakland Raiders kneel during the playing of the National Anthem before an NFL football game against the Washington Redskins in Landover, Maryland, on Sunday
Washington Redskins tight end Niles Paul (84) and linebacker Ryan Anderson (52) and Washington Redskins linebacker Chris Carter (55) kneel with teammates during the playing of the national anthem on Sunday
NFL players did not typically stand for the national anthem until 2009 – before then, they were usually in the locker room until after the performance.
In 2009, an NFL spokesman said of the new practice: ‘As you know, the NFL has a long tradition of patriotism. Players are encouraged but not required to stand for the anthem.’
During his interview, Williams also went after NFL owners for supporting Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election.
‘There’s an incredible level of cowardice and selfishness in the ownership class in this particular league on this particular topic,’ he said. ‘I think we have this perception that athletics is entirely a meritocracy.
‘The NFL proves, and the positions they consider more cerebral that it’s just simply not.
Members of the New England Patriots kneel on the sidelines as the National Anthem is played before a game against the Houston Texans at Gillette Stadium on Sunday
Jacksonville Jaguars players kneel in protest of racial inequality during the national anthem before the NFL International Series match at Wembley Stadium on Sunday
‘Seven or eight of these owners gave Donald Trump a million dollars each and are friends with a very horrible guy who thinks he’s a dictator and treats America like it’s a game show.’
Dozens of celebrities supported the on-field demonstrations across the country from NFL players on Sunday.
The movement has sprouted from Trump’s outburst during a rally in Huntsville, Alabama, on Friday.
In the rally, Trump referenced the growing trend of players taking a knee during the national anthem, which first began in 2016 by ex-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in a statement aimed against police brutality.
In the speech, Trump implored team owners to ‘get that son of a b**** off the field’ for protesting during the national anthem.